GLENDALE, Ariz. – Heading into the last weekend of the 2023 PBR World Finals this past May, John Crimber was down, but not quite out.

Ranked No. 2 in the world and rapidly gaining ground on No. 1 Cassio Dias, Crimber needed to be perfect and have Dias stub his toe if he wanted to win the 2024 World Championship.

But Crimber bucked off his last bull of the season, and Dias did enough to maintain his lead and win the world title. Crimber went home empty-handed.

Heading into the last weekend of the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season, Crimber – the 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick of the Florida Freedom – was in almost the same position.

He trailed Brady Fielder of the Texas Rattlers in the MVP race by 111.5 points with a maximum of six bulls remaining at Ridge Rider Days in Glendale, Arizona, to make up ground.

Crimber desperately needed to convert on at least two bulls, and he needed Fielder – who won the Great 8 award for highest riding percentage and hadn’t bucked off two bulls in a row since July – to buck off a couple.

This time, Crimber wasn’t going home empty-handed.

RELATED: Crimber using heartbreaking world title miss to fuel his PBR Teams MVP chase

He made the 8-second whistle twice on Friday night, when the Rattlers had a bye, riding Where’s the Whisky for 77.25 points and Umm for 91.25 points in the shootout round to retake the lead by 57 points.

On Saturday, Fielder bucked off in the Rattlers’ loss to the Carolina Cowboys and, therefore, didn’t have the chance to get on in the shootout round. Crimber then rode High Ball for 90.25 points as the Freedom fell to the Kansas City Outlaws, meaning all would be decided on Championship Sunday.

Crimber led Fielder by 147.25 points. Fielder needed two qualified rides to stay alive. Shockingly, he bucked off his second bull in a row, and the rest was immaterial – Crimber had clinched the MVP award.

“It feels really good,” Crimber said. “It’s definitely a dream come true, but now that it’s over, we’re going to go to Vegas and hopefully get that gold buckle with the team.”

While leaving things until the last day of the regular season may have been stressful, Crimber knows he thrives in the position of the hunter.

“I think I like the chase,” he said. “I mean, of course, you want to be in first every time, but I think that made me work harder this week. I got on bulls every day. I got on at least two bulls a day, and I did what I needed to do to feel like myself before the weekend. Last weekend, I stubbed my toe on two bulls I shouldn’t have bucked off of, but I just went back home and put in the work that I needed to put in, and it all worked out how it’s supposed to.”

Crimber ended the season having gone 26-for-40 (65%), getting on six more bulls than any other rider this season (Fielder and Dias each attempted 34 bulls).

That’s no accident. The 19-year-old wanted to go all-out in his pursuit of the MVP award.

“I really just left it all in God’s hands because he’s the one that, if it’s in His will, that’s the way it was going to go,” Crimber said. “I just give all the glory to Him. I just tried to do my job every weekend, bull for bull. I went out this season the way I wanted to because I left nothing behind. No regrets for what I did, getting on the most bulls. I got on the most bulls out of everyone, and it’s just what I had to do.”

He and Fielder have battled it out in the standings all season, with Fielder ultimately finishing with 2,109.5 points (24-for-34, 70%) to Crimber’s 2,256.75 points. Fielder is the third rider in PBR Teams history to finish a season with a riding percentage of 70%, and his aggregate would’ve been enough to win the 2023 MVP award by 344.25 points.

“That guy’s an animal,” Crimber said of Fielder. “I told all my buddies, I said, ‘This isn’t going to be easy.’ I always thought he had the potential to be a contender to be a World Champion every year, and like I said, he’s an animal. He’s been the most consistent guy out there, and it was really fun going against that guy because he’d ride one, and I’d want to ride one, and I’d ride one, and he’d go out there and ride one. So it was really fun.”

Dominating the Teams MVP race so thoroughly bodes well for both Crimber and Fielder. In 2022, the top two finishers in the MVP race were Jose Vitor Leme and Daylon Swearingen, while in 2023, Leme and Dias finished atop the standings. All three men are World Champions.

“They’d better watch out this season because I’m going to go out there and give it all I have,” Crimber said of the 2025 Unleash The Beast season. “(Missing out on the world title) the last time, it lit a fire in me, and it ain’t stopping. I’m really excited. This is just one step closer to my main goal, which is being a World Champion. And being here, 19 years old, and getting this MVP in my first year, it means a lot to me.”

But before Crimber gets to chase another world title, he’s first chasing the 2024 PBR Teams Championship with the Freedom, who finished the season 16-12 and in the No. 3 seed.

The Freedom will have to wait until the conclusion of the Ride-In Round on Oct. 17 to find out who they’ll face in the first round of the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Championship, which will be held Oct. 18-20 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Even though the Freedom went a disappointing 1-2 at Ridge Rider Days to close the season, they’ve ridden three or more bulls in nine of their last 11 games.

And, with the league MVP on the roster, the wins should keep on coming.

“Oh, we feel great,” Crimber said. “We stubbed our toe today – it’s part of it, though. It’s bull riding. You’ve got to learn how to lose. That’s one thing I’ve learned through this whole season, that losing’s part of bull riding, and you’ve got to learn how to overcome. The real champions are the guys who overcome the losses. That’s how you see who a real champion is, and we’re just going to go out there, put in the work these next two weeks, and go to Vegas feeling ready and hopefully get that world title.”

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media